How Secrets Lead To Death
by Mummyluvr
Summary: 8 drabbles that, when read in order, make a cool little story about Hunted. obviously, there are spoilers.
1. Don't Be Scared, Dean

After Hunted, I had a bunch of ideas about things that had happened or could happen swimming around in my head and finally decided to write them out. It kind of turned into a short story that really works better as a series of 8 drabbles posted up as different chapters. It all runs togather, so please read them in order, and don't forget to review!

**Title:** How Secrets Lead To Death

**Summary:** 8 drabbles based on the epsiode Hunted, going in order from 1 to 8 making a story about how Dean's dealing with everything

**Warnings:** None, though there is a teensy bit of mild language

**Disclaimer:** obviously, I own nothing but my ideas, which really aren't that good anyway j/k

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**How Secrets Lead to Death**

"Don't be scared, Dean," John Winchester smiled sadly as he looked down at his son's scarred face. He took a step toward the hospital bed, heart pounding as he realized what he was about to do, what a contradiction it was. "But you have to save Sam," he whispered into his eldest son's ear, "if you can't save him… kill him."

Dean jumped back as much at the fluffed hospital pillows and close quarters would allow and stared at his father with steadily widening eyes, his mouth slightly agape as he searched the older man's face for signs of a joke.

"Don't tell anyone," John continued, looking pointedly at the back wall, unable to stare into betrayal and fear that shone from behind his son's bright hazel eyes, "don't tell Sammy."

He pulled away, finally looking Dean, who looked back with hurt and confusion and crushed hopes. "Promise me, son," John whispered, "promise me that you won't tell a soul."

"Yeah, dad," Dean muttered weakly, the color slowly draining from his face, "I promise."


	2. Alone

**Disclaimer:** Same as always...

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His mother had died when he was four. His father had died 23 years later, making a sacrifice he shouldn't have had to. If Dean failed, his brother would die, too.

Well, if Dean could find him, Sammy might die. Because Sam wasn't in his bed. His shoes were gone, his luggage was gone, and somewhere in the parking lot another motel guest was bitching about their car being stolen.

A year ago, Dean would have congratulated his brother for grand theft auto. This time was different, though. This time, Sam had driven away from Dean, not towards him.

Sighing loudly, the eldest Winchester brother rolled from the creaky old motel bed and stood up, looking around the room. Not even a note. Sam hadn't even left him a note. He'd begged for an explanation out by that lake, backed his brother into a corner, made Dean break a promise, and hadn't even left a note when he'd run.

Well, maybe that wasn't so bad. After all, dad had left something of a note for his oldest boy before leaving, and look at how that had turned out. A busted-up trunk, a slightly bent crowbar, a dead vampire, an achingly red mark on Sammy's cheek, a scared college professor, an angry blonde, an unmade deal… And that was probably just the tip of the iceberg.

He'd disobeyed an order, just like when he'd been nine. And just like with the shtriga, no good had come of it.

He was alone again.

Not even a note, just a building ache in his chest and a painful twist of his stomach.

And the burning. Right behind his eyes.

Yeah, there was that.


	3. And The Phone Rang Again

**Disclaimer:** Third verse, same as the first...

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In truth, she felt sorry for him. She knew where he was coming from, had known John all those years ago, back when the brothers were young. Too young to be on their own.

She had asked John about it, told him to go home to those boys, but he'd refused. He'd said he needed answers, and she had dropped it. Now, Ellen Harvelle was seriously regretting that decision.

She could hear the pain in his voice, the way it cracked as he tried to keep himself composed, the long pauses when he couldn't. If she had made John go back, if she had only told him that he couldn't rely so much on that boy to raise his brother, that parenting wasn't a child's job, maybe things would have been different.

But she hadn't, and they weren't.

"He's not here," she said softly for the fifth time that day. The fifth time he'd called in an hour. "I'll tell you if I see him, though."

He thanked her and hung up. She sighed, glancing around the roadhouse, thinking back to the day that John Winchester had sat at the bar, looking up at her with fierce determination in his face.

She remembered him talking about his sons, about how the younger was a little genius, how the elder was a natural with weapons. He'd seemed proud, and just a little sad.

"He'll protect his brother," John had told her, "he'll make sure nothing bad happens."

She had told him that wasn't Dean's job. He had left.

The next time she'd seen John Winchester, he had looked older somehow. "He didn't do his job," the hunter had said, "he wasn't good enough. He almost got Sam killed."

She had tried to defend the little boy, but it hadn't worked. John had never been the same after that. He came in and told her and Bill about how Sammy was doing in school, about different awards he was winning, and about how proud he was of the boy. He never mentioned Dean again, not a word of him.

A chill ran up her spine as the phone rang again, pulling her from her thoughts. Of course, it was Dean.

No, Sam still hadn't been there, but she would be sure to call if he came.

Ellen looked back across the building. It was funny how the emptiness got to her now. Ash was still asleep, Jo was gone. And Dean wouldn't stop calling.

He'd been so broken when she first met him, though you wouldn't know it looking at him. She could see it in his eyes, though. Fear and betrayal. He'd discovered his father's mortality, and, on top of that, had heard the terrible things he'd always kept hidden away come running out of the older man's mouth.

Dean, of course, had never told her what the demon had said in that cabin in Missouri, but Sam had.

Sam had told her a lot of things. He'd told her he was different, told her he wasn't human. And all the while, Dean had been glaring at her, almost daring her to say the wrong thing or make the wrong move. Telling her silently that if she betrayed their trust, or made a move to treat Sam like something less than human, she would have to answer to him.

There was no doubt in Ellen's mind that Dean Winchester was capable of murder. After all, Sam had told her about the demon at Bobby's. He'd told her about the demon in the alley. She'd heard about the people in Oregon through the grapevine.

The phone started to ring again.


	4. Boom

**Disclaimer:** Nope, still not mine...

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The explosion rocked the building, sending a wave of heat rolling over him as he sat tied in the chair, bandana shoved in his mouth. And that son of a bitch was smiling, he was happy, he was waiting for the next explosion.

And then it came, another wave of heat, another earth-jarring boom, this one accompanied by debris.

And then there was one.

Gordon left the room, stupid little smile still plastered across his face, telling him that he was sorry.

He wasn't the only one.

Dean had had a lot of time to think since waking up, and he'd come to the conclusion that if he'd never opened his big mouth back in Oregon, this whole problem could have been easily avoided. He wouldn't have woken up alone, wouldn't have had to turn to Ellen for help, wouldn't have gotten himself kidnapped and used as bait.

It was all his fault.

And then he heard it. He heard his brother's voice, heard the sound of a scuffle, and knew that he hadn't _completely_ messed everything up. There was still a chance to make things right.

He knew exactly what he had to do.


	5. Vengeance

**Disclaimer:** Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you people?

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It had been a week since he'd nearly gotten his brother blown apart, and Dean Winchester was speeding back toward that old funky town to take care of some unfinished business. He'd meant what he'd told Sam when he'd seen what Gordon had done to the younger hunter. He'd let the man live once, and it wasn't a mistake he was about to make again.

He got to the prison in record time, pulling on the costume he bought earlier that day and checking his id. Everything was perfect.

He walked into the prison, found the right cell number, and stared his brother's would-be murderer right in the face.

"You finally come around?" Gordon asked, walking up to the bars and smiling, "I told you he wasn't human. He deserves to die."

"I didn't come to bail you out," Dean said, a wicked grin flitting across his face as he glanced around the corridor. No security. Good. "I came to make things right."

He pulled out the gun, the one he'd kept hidden until now, took aim, and rid the world of one more evil creature.


	6. Snitch

**Dislcaimer: **No, I still don't own them...

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Jo Harvelle seemed genuinely surprised to see Dean Winchester standing outside the door of the apartment she'd rented after hearing of Gordon's arrest. She'd been planning on bailing him out. They still had two freaks left to go, according to the pattern she'd overheard her mother and the boys talking about, and she would need all the help she could get.

She was even more surprised when Dean called her a bitch and blew her head off.


	7. Massacre

**Disclaimer:** Still the same...

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Dean gazed around the room, full of dead hunters slumped over tables, the bar, and scattered across the floor. He'd had to be sure. Had to know that Sam's secret was safe, that nothing else could ever hurt him.

Turning to leave Harvelle's Roadhouse, the hunter tucked his gun back into the waistband of his jeans. He stepped over Ash's corpse, shot a quick glance back at Ellen's, and knew that he'd done the right thing. He'd done just what his father had told him to do all those years before. He'd watched out for Sammy.

Hell, he'd _saved_ Sammy.

He might have broken part of his promise, but he'd kept the other part. He'd saved his brother, kept the only family he had safe. He'd done good. He'd done real good.


	8. True Intentions

**Disclaimer: **See previous chapters.

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Yellow eyes glinted from the shadows behind Harvelle's as the Impala pulled away. Demonic laughter filled the still Nebraska air. It had finally been accomplished, everything the demon had worked towards since the birth of that special child, that warrior for good.

It had made a killer. A killer of good people and hunters. It had turned God's little warrior, turned him to its own purposes by using John Winchester as a puppet, by making the tortured hunter think the psychic was the target, was a general in the coming war.

In reality, Sam had never been anything more than a pawn, a way to get to the one that could have won the war for good. It had never been about Sammy.

No, the demon had wanted Dean, and it had finally got him.

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All right. That's all of them. So, what do you think? Please review! 


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